Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Pentagon Announces Additional $835 Million in Stimulus Projects

News in Balance:

WASHINGTON, April 28, 2009 -- The following news release made available by the U.S. Defense Department Tuesday is the text of a statement regarding $835 Million in additional armed forces related projects funded by the Recovery Act.

The Department of Defense (DoD) announced today details of more than 850 facility improvement projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The $835 million allocated to these new projects represents the balance of the ARRA funds provided to the DoD for construction and repair projects, and is in addition to the approximate $6.1 billion contained in the first infrastructure investment list announced on March 20, 2009.

All of the new projects will be conducted at Army and Army National Guard facilities in 37 states and the District of Columbia. More than half of the $835 million will be spent in five states: Texas ($155 million), Kentucky ($83 million), North Carolina ($83 million), Oklahoma ($66 million) and Hawaii ($59 million). In addition to making much-needed improvements to military installations, an additional $346 million will be spent on energy-related projects enabling the DoD to lead the way in the national effort to achieve greater energy independence.

Representing less than 1 percent of the entire $787 billion ARRA package, the overall $7.4 billion investment in defense-related projects will further the legislation's stated goal of stimulating the American economy through job creation, while improving the quality of life for service members, their families, and DoD civilian workers.

The DoD intends to spend ARRA funds as quickly as possible with full transparency and accountability. To view a complete list of the specific projects announced today, please visit http://www.defenselink.mil/recovery and http://www.recovery.gov. The DoD will continue to use these websites to post future announcements related to ARRA funding.